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Europe always seems to get the best of breed when it comes to cars. Regardless of the make or model, Europe takes delivery of vehicles we can only dream of over here in America. Here in the States we’re often left with slightly bland, dumbed down, and unappealing vehicle selection. Even Ford, an American company, offers vehicles in Europe that we can’t get here at home like the Ford Falcon and Focus RS, which we’ll zone in more later in the article.

Europeans have a knack for the ultimate driving experience, and one thing we noticed during a visit over the Atlantic during the summer was their love of hatchbacks. No, we're not talking about some hokey-puck cheap car that you'd find a teenager racing around town in. These vehicles are actually pretty awesome. We've put together our list of five hot hatches to look out for and consider if and when you’re in the market. Read on!

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Along with Chevy, Nissan is aiming to take a stab at Ford this quarter. Among small business owners that need some sort of work van, the Ford Transit has been the van of choice since the 1970s. Heck, even thieves loved choosing the Ford Transit due to its peppiness and reliability. Nissan believes its new van, the NV200, could provide to be some friendly competition for Ford.

The Nissan NV200 features a 2-liter four-banger with a mounted CVT gearbox. Loading and unloading is simple, due to a low floor, and it can haul 1500 pounds. The cargo area can easily accommodate your standard pallet, if need be.

All that said, I’d still choose the Ford over the Nissan. Why? Well, while driving the Ford, I’ll know its legacy is laced in high-speed car chases, bank robberies, and solid reliability. However, if that’s not important to you the price might be the deciding factor. The Transit currently runs for a little over $22,000 and the Nissan is projected to be within that price range.

Each day I commute about 60 miles and I see a lot of things on the road. Some things are just gorgeous, like the snowcapped Olympic Mountains, while the other stuff I see is sheer stupidity, like the lady who decided to go against the flow of traffic today. These a pretty much non-issues in the world of driving, while we think that the real threat are the boys in blue. Now don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against our task force, but getting dinged for going 5 mph over the speed limit is a bit too ridiculous in my book. Over the years, I’ve noticed ways of how to avoid tickets at little or no cost to you. Continue reading for some tips!

Last week we showed you a few sneak peaks at Super Bowl ads focused on cars. Now that the Big Game is over, we wanted to hand it to Chevy GM for making a commercial worth viewing.

The spot takes place in a post-apocalyptic world. The Chevy rises from the ashes, unscathed, and drives away. The end of the commercial is what made us laugh. Chevy had the guts to take a blatant stab at Ford. Though that’s a ballsy move on its behalf, I’d suggest they take a closer look at the competition before calling them out. I’d like to draw your attention to the Ford video below. You can watch a Chevy drive away from a CGI apocalyptic hell, or you can watch a Ford drive away after being tossed around in a hurricane. You be the judge.

Last summer I finally had a chance to return to my motherland, Ukraine. I grew up hearing stories of the place, but never got to experience it for what it really was, despite being born there. Apart from that fact that most of the stories I heard growing up were true (such as the mob “security personnel” running everything) I was shocked at the counterfeits I saw everywhere.

Now I’m not talking about computer software, as that's inevitable. What surprised me most were the vehicle counterfeits. Yes, you’d have your legitimate Benz here and there, but the general public mostly drove knock-offs from China. I saw countless fake vehicles everywhere, Toyotas to Dodge vehicles each having a Chinese cousin.

Chinese manufacturer JAC will be debuting the 4R3 at the Beijing Motor Show. The 4R3 is essentially a Ford F-150 copy. JAC is aiming to release the 4R3 in South American and African markets as an inexpensive work vehicle. The truck is powered by a diesel propelled four-banger, set to generate a little over a 100 horsepower and 177 torques. Though we’re not sure on what Ford has to say about this, we've gotta assume that it’s only a matter of time before JAC hears from Ford legal!

The internal combustion engine saved the horse in the 1900s, and hybrid cars were supposed to save the automobile in the 2000s (nice try, Prius.) Now there’s a new savior in town--well, actually, there are a few.

Though the hybrid was a great start, it was only a gateway drug of an idea for gear-heads everywhere. We’ve all walked out into our driveway ready to get doing, only to stumble upon a flat tire. You can kiss that problem goodbye thanks to Goodyear. Thinking that your engine isn’t as efficient as it should be? You’re probably right, but technology mirroring NASA will solve that worry for you. Oh, and forget about getting a bigger motor, because you should instead be focusing on the 1-liter powerhouses. As technology improves, our automotive life will too. To get the full story, click on through to get a look at Car and Driver's 10 Most Promising Auto Technologies of the Future.

Living in the northwest, the weather can make of break your day. From sun, to snow, to rain, it can all be seen in one day, depending on the season. So as any Northwesty, I'm constantly checking my iPhone for updated weather conditions. But alas, no two weather apps, let alone forecasters, can agree on Seattle weather.

Ford has announced that they will be neighboring next to Intel, Google, and other Silicon Valley giants. Other automotive giants such as Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW have already moved into the Valley, and Ford will be moving its Research and Innovations (R&I) Unit into the neighborhood. The question you might be asking is, "what does Ford and Northwest weather have to do with each other?" The answer is real-time data. Ford is aiming to utilize the sensors in its vehicles to transfer data to the client services we use.

Put it this way, when you're driving down the highway and it begins to rain, the sensors on the wipers transmit a signal to a client service; say a weather app you might use on your phone. The more vehicles equipped with this technology, the more accurate our weather forecasting becomes. Furthermore, I can see this technology also providing real-time traffic congestion info. In conjunction with a solid GPS, your commuting time could be reduced.

In this episode we give you a look at the upcoming Ford SYNC Emergency Assistance feature, that is able to assist you even in areas where the native language is different than your own. It works by using GPS and cell tower locations to determine where you are in the event of an emergency. If SYNC knows you speak English, but you happen to need help in an area that speaks French, you will be contacted in English on your end, and SYNC will communicate to the responder in French, so that you can get the help you need.

Check out a video for a demo from #ForwardWithFord, which took place in Detroit, MI.

Big thank you to JackThreads for sponsoring the show - be sure to check them out, we've got exclusive invite codes that give you $5 to use towards anything you'd like.

Ford brought a small fleet of intelligent vehicles to San Francisco to showcase a technology that the company expects will be mainstream in about five years, from most automakers.

Two Ford Focus cars and a Ford Expedition were equipped with a technology called Dedicated Short-Range Communications (DSRC), which basically serves as a car-to-car wireless connection that currently serves as a crash avoidance system in Ford's implementation, and as a wireless toll collection mechanism overseas. Eventually, it could even be used for entertainment purposes.

Although Ford demonstrated the technology in a parking lot outside of AT&T Park, the company isn't alone in developing the technology. Ford, General Motors, Nissan, Honda, Toyota, Volkswagen, Audi, Mercedes, Hyundai, and Kia are all working together, plus truck, bus, and motorcycle companies, said Mike Shulman, the technical leader in Ford's Active Safety Research and Innovation department.

"Next year, we're doing a model deployment in a city where there will be thousands of equipped vehicles and trucks and buses all sending out these messages, and then the goal in 2013 is to start a regulation that will require this on all vehicles. Then, maybe consumer electronics companies would start designing products that could be retrofitted onto existing cars, because everyone sees the potential," Shulman said.

"Maybe five years from now, cars will be equipped with this," Shulman added.

The government will be spending about $285 million by June 1 in Detroit by trading in their older gas guzzlers to purchase about 17,600 new vehicles from GM, Ford and Chrysler. Part of the stimulus bill, it couldn’t have come at a better time for the beleaguered industry. About 2,500 hybrid sedans like the Chevy Malibu, Saturn Aura and Ford Hybrid Fusion have been ordered. Now if we could just get our local governments to follow suit.